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nestled in the remote valleys of

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California's Mojave Desert is a complex

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of deep space communications antennas

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without these graceful giants NASA would

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not be able to command and receive

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information from satellites or

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investigate distant stars and galaxies

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the complex called Goldstone has been

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NASA's switchboard to the universe for

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over three decades actually it is one of

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three stations located at equal

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distances around the globe linked

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together to provide continuous contact

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with spacecraft the largest of all

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dishes measuring 70 meters across has

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been in service for 25 years it's large

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ear help scientists collect data from

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missions like Magellan currently mapping

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the surface of Venus faint signals from

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Magellan Travel millions of miles

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through space and a receipt by the

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antenna signals that are then amplified

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processed and transferred to the

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spaceflight operations facility at

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory this is

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the clearinghouse for all incoming and

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outgoing information ultimately millions

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of picture elements are assembled from

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spacecraft data and transformed into

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unprecedented views of the Venusian

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not all of gold stones dishes are

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pointed at spacecraft as early as 1962

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the 26 meter site used radar signals to

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detect surface features on the planet

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Venus a high-tech antenna was recently

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added to test new hardware including

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equipment that will someday help search

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for life elsewhere in space Goldstone is

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one of the country's oldest and most

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valuable resources tracking first began

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in 1958 with pioneer 3 & 4 which

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measured a second radiation belt around

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the earth and helped us chart a course

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to the moon antennas tracked the ranger

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lunar probes and by 1966 surveyor

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spacecraft beam back pictures of the

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bring me down to a nap Goldstone and

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brothers live TV the first milk tracking

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continued as early Mariner spacecraft

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visited some of our closest planetary

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neighbors

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in 1977 a pair of voyagers began a

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mission that would send back images of

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worlds we had never seen before planets

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with complex ring systems and their

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tortured icy moons Goldstone still

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receives faint signals from the voyagers

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as they head toward the unknown reaches